Friday, June 26, 2009

The End!

The first draft of my YA changeling story, "The Between", is finished at 67,000 words.

This represents my 5th completed novel in under 5 years. I could never have anticipated that in late August of 2004, in response to an offhand remark by my husband, that I would start writing what would become my first novel. Even less, would I have believed that less than 5 years later, I would have a literary agent, a manuscript in the hands of several editors/publishers, and a first draft of a 5th novel.

This story emerged from a random writing prompt during an in-person writing group at my local library. Through the course of a few weeks, I kept bending the weekly prompts to work on a single story and two distinct characters and their world began to emerge.

Writing is an amazing business. When I began this novel, I had little idea of who the characters were or how they were going to solve their problems. But I trusted in the process and allowed myself to explore the universe of "The Between."

There were false starts and backtracking along the way, but at the end, I have a story I am proud of and one I think readers will enjoy.

You can read samples of my novels (some in progress, some published) on Wattpad.

I've also been known to make pottery and give it away. :)

FYI: I have political biases. I am concerned with social justice, gender issues, and feminism. I will talk about this side by side with writing craft, pottery, and cute animal pictures.

P.S. Sadly, I know that the individuals this relates to are not the people reading this, so consider this my public venting. Most of the folks I have met on G+ have been interesting and wonderful; people I now count as my friends. However, I have increasingly been the recipient of private messages and emails from men, often not native English speakers, but not exclusively so, wanting to 'get to know me better'. These "hey baby" messages are from people who have never interacted with me, aren't in my circles, and have no connection with me or my interests. This is the internet version of the street cat-call and is at best, irritating, at worse, harassment. So I will not answer chat requests from anyone I do not recognize from my circles or from prior interactions on G+ posts.